Abbott Government gutting tax transparency - Media Release

The Abbott Government has shown its true colours on tax transparency after months of talking tough about tackling corporate tax avoidance.

Late yesterday afternoon the Government quietly published draft legislation to amend Labor’s 2013 tax transparency laws.

These laws require the Australian Tax Office to publish information about the income and tax paid by companies earning over $100 million. They are designed to ensure an open and informed public debate about how much tax our biggest companies really pay.

The Abbott Government now wants to roll these laws back to exempt several hundred privately-held companies from the disclosure requirements.

This is clear-cut evidence that despite all Joe Hockey’s tough talk about tax fairness, he doesn’t mean a word of it.

Instead, he wants to shield some of Australia’s biggest firms from reasonable disclosure about whether they’re paying their fair share.

Labor believes that tax transparency plays an important role in promoting confidence in the Australian tax system.

Companies that do the right thing and pay their fair share should have nothing to hide.

The Abbott Government is rolling back transparency for big firms just weeks after announcing it will send Australian Federal Police to investigate people’s Centrelink and pension claims.

Yet again the Abbott Government is tough on the weak, and weak with the strong.

Labor will not support this move to water down tax transparency. If there is any truth to the Abbott Government’s rhetoric on corporate tax avoidance, it must drop this bill before it even gets to the Parliament.

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What about the darkness over the rapes and assaults at immigration detention facilities reinforced by laws that you helped to pass?

""Doctors and teachers working in immigration detention facilities could face up to two years in prison if they speak out against conditions in the centres or provide information to journalists, under sweeping new laws to gag whistleblowers.

The Border Force Act, which was passed quietly on May 14 by both major parties, clamps down on “entrusted people” in detention centres recording or disclosing information about conditions in centres such as those on Nauru and Manus Island.

Under the heading of “secrecy and disclosure provisions”, the act says releasing information is only permitted by the secretary of the department responsible for detention centres.""